The Jamaica Gleaner’s enterprise reporter, Tyrone Reid, has revealed that ‘major glitches in the (Jamaican) Government’s e-learning programme have delayed the implementation of a multibillion-dollar initiative by almost a year – affecting thousands of students. The pilot phase of the US$50m programme was due to start in September 2006 and end in June 2007. That did not happen.  So July and August 2007 were supposed to be used to study the programme’s problems. That, too, did not happen.

Avril Crawford, CEO of e-Learning Jamaica Company Limited (e-ljam), told The Gleaner that the most difficult challenge has been getting the schools’ buildings ready to accommodate the high-tech equipment.  She said that the glitches did not result in a ‘total system failure’, but the programme has been set back by almost a year.

Comment: Thankfully, that sort of expensive thoughtlessness and inefficiency can’t happen here – can it?